Karen Hughes, President Bush’s newest undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and the caretaker of America’s image abroad, has her work cut out for her. A Zogby survey of 3,900 Arabs in Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates has uncovered massive distrust of U.S. motives in the Middle East. Unkindest cut of all, Arabs would prefer that President Chirac and France lead the world rather than us, and, rather than have us as the world’s lone superpower, they would prefer the Chinese. While Arabs are not as rabidly anti-American as in the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, still, by 77 percent to 6 percent, they believe the Iraqi people are worse off today, and by four-to-one, Arabs say the U.S. invasion has increased, not decreased, terrorism. ... http://www.amconmag.com

As of Monday, Jan. 16, 2006, at least 2,219 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,741 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The figures include six military civilians. The AP count is eight higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated at 10 a.m. EST Thursday. The British military has reported 98 deaths; Italy, 27; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 17; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Slovakia, three; Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia one death each. Since May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 2,080 U.S. military members have died, according to AP's count. That includes at least 1,632 deaths resulting from hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The latest deaths reported by the military: ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1511376

Police in Alabama and Georgia searched Monday for two murder suspects who fled from an overcrowded jail after overpowering guards, wounding one with a makeshift knife, authorities said. Searchers used tracking dogs in the hunt for Johnny Earl Jones, 17, who was charged with killing a child he was baby-sitting for, and Lamar Benton, 19, charged in the rape-slaying of a 39-year-old woman. They escaped early Saturday from Russell County Jail in Phenix City. A third murder suspect got out with them but was quickly recaptured by officers using tracking dogs and helicopters. The three men attacked two guards, then went to the front of the jail, where they knocked down another officer, took her keys and escaped, Russell County Sheriff Tommy Boswell said. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/16/national/main1210627.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=U.S._1210627

A lawyer was taken hostage in his office near City Hall on Monday, and police cordoned off part of downtown as they tried to negotiate for the man's release. Police were negotiating with possibly two suspects, said Trooper Larry Schnall, a spokesman for the Georgia State Patrol, which was sending a SWAT team to the scene. He could not confirm whether the suspects were armed. A woman who answered the phone Monday at the office where the lawyer works said the office was closed and hung up. If the Hostage takers want money for the return of this lawyer they would have better luck getting money for keeping or disposing of it, preferably somewhere it cant do any damage to the environment ...http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-16-georgia-hostage_x.htm?csp=34

An airplane mechanic was killed Monday morning after he was sucked into a jet's engine while passengers were boarding from the tarmac, officials said. "A mechanic walked in front of the engine and was pulled into the engine," National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Lauren Peduzzi said.She said she didn't know if any passengers saw the accident as they boarded Continental Airlines flight 1515 to Houston. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the worker was sucked into the right engine of the 737-500.The mechanic's identity wasn't released, but Continental identified the victim as an employee of one of Continental's suppliers. Continental released few other details about what it called a "ground incident" at El Paso International Airport....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,181825,00.html

Nicki Henderson has had plenty of reasons to be angry since Hurricane Katrina destroyed her Biloxi home, but it was a simple news item about dislocated dolphins that really made her blood boil. Henderson lost her temper when she logged on to her computer and spotted this headline: "New Orleans Dolphins Find New Home." She knew the dolphins actually came from a hurricane-ravaged marine park in Gulfport, not New Orleans. The headline writer's error reinforced her belief shared by many on Mississippi's Gulf Coast that New Orleans has gotten a disproportionate share of the news coverage and the nation's attention in the aftermath of the storm, now more than four months gone....http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1511186&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312